Following up: White Sox finally announce Edwin Encarnación
Finally tying up a loose end from a decade ago, the White Sox formally announced Edwin Encarnación to their roster on Thursday.
We did learn a couple things we didn’t know before, such as which player the White Sox would remove from the 40-man to accommodate Encarnación. That turned out to be Kodi Medeiros, the lefty starter/reliever acquired from Milwaukee for Joakim Soria two years ago. Medeiros couldn’t figure out how to throw strikes as a starter, and his arsenal isn’t especially suited for a league with a three-batter minimum.
We also learned that Encarnción is a polite fellow:
“From the other side, what I see is they’re very smart hitters,” Encarnacion said of the Sox during a conference call. “They have a great idea of what they’re doing at the plate.”
Everything else is as initially reported and deduced.
Contract: Encarnación is on a one-year, $12 million deal for 2020, with a $12 million club option for 2021. There is indeed no buyout, which seems odd for that size of a salary.
Role: Encarnación will serve as the primary DH, and he’ll also be the first in line to back up Jose Abreu. That combination will make it harder for James McCann to get playing time, but Rick Hahn made it sound like McCann is staying put.
“Having quality depth is a positive thing on good clubs, and it’s part of what makes good clubs able to withstand the unexpected,” he said. “We view James as potentially playing a role on a championship club and that hasn’t changed since the end of last season to today.”
The concept of roster depth is foreign to the White Sox, who generally aren’t concerned about blocking productive talent. McCann is indeed unlucky, but if this Jon Heyman tweet from a few days ago indicates a diversion from the norm, it’s possible he’s taking the inferences about his framing to heart.
Update: Because James Fegan anticipates my needs, here’s a full article on McCann’s offseason work.
“Up to this point in my career I’ve never really had anyone who was able to explain to me why the scoring worked the way that it did as far as the framing metrics go and how to improve,” McCann said. “I’ll definitely be monitoring it closer than I ever have. It’s something that I’ll stay up to date with. I’ll be in contact with Jerry throughout the year and just continuing to pick his brain and whatever wisdom he can pass on to me.”
* * * * * * * * *
At least McCann removed the possibility of hearing about the shortcomings that prompted the White Sox to usurp him with Yasmani Grandal by already agreeing to a $5.4 million contract for 2020 back in early December.
The White Sox also resolved a couple other cases with extreme prejudice. They outrighted Josh Osich and Ryan Goins before the 40-man roster additions,, and they sidestepped Yolmer Sánchez’s number by outrighting him before the non-tender deadline.
The remaining four incumbent cases are pending as the deadline to exchange numbers arrives today, and the Sox also picked up a fresh case via trade:
- Alex Colomé: $10.3M
- Nomar Mazara: $5.7M
- Carlos Rodón: $4.5M
- Leury García: $4M
- Evan Marshall: $1.3M
That their cases are still open at this point doesn’t reflect anything in particular at this point. After a contentious arbitration situation two years ago, the White Sox resolved all the remaining numbers with Colomé, Sánchez, Rodón and Jose Abreu on deadline day last year.
Author
The buyout is probably inside the first 12 million contract.
mlbtraderumors reported 10 mil this year, 2 mil buyout, 12 mil in 2021
From the press release:
“Under terms of the agreement, Encarnación will receive $12 million in 2020, while the White Sox hold a $12-million option for 2021 which does not include a buyout.”
Jim, you’ve been doing this blogging for 3 decades now, haven’t you?
In Hawk Decades, yes.
I remember when I thought Jim was about 40 or something like that when I first starting to read Sox Machine in 2010. 3 decades?…wow, Jim started blogging when he was 10 🙂
“Hawk Decades” was the joke.
Taps microphone.
Is this thing on?
It is refreshing to see that Hahn is actually concerned about building up major league depth, after all the non-major leaguers he’s had on the roster the last few years. I hope they keep McCann. If they don’t, we’re a Grandal injury away from having a horrible catching situation again. I hope we’re done seeing the likes of Hector Gimenez, Adrian Gonzalez and Adrian Nieto on the major league roster.
This is not me saying what I think they SHOULD do, but I will believe McCann stays when he’s there for spring training. I think most of Hahn’s statements could be interpreted as trade posturing. And at the risk of moving goalposts, I could also see him moving in-season… like a rental-for-rental swap to get a killer bullpen piece. But if Collins isn’t totally “forcing the issue” right away, we’ll certainly be happy to have McCann if we’re indeed contenders. Or Collins is who’ll be dealt, and this whole comment was a waste of all of our brief time on this planet.
I just don’t see them getting anything of value for him this offseason. They might be able to get a middling relief pitcher for him- but we have enough of those already. A mid-season trade would be more likely- like you said, a rental-for-rental swap.
Especially if he can come out hot, to the extent he plays much at all. Shrugging off the fluke tag is another thing in favor of a trade in season.
Sit down and think about the mid season trade you suggested, and it makes no sense at all.
What non contending team is going to move half a year of a “killer bullpen piece” for half a year of a catcher? They wouldn’t, a non contending team would want prospects.
Now, what contending team is going to move a killer bullpen piece they need to win, for half a year of a catcher? I cant see why anyone would, they’d rather move their own prosepcts for a catcher.
Trading James Mccann midseason is not going to get you a killer bullpen piece. At best you’re probably looking at a Steve Cishek, 6/7th inning type of reliever.
That *could* make sense depending on where the Sox are in July. Even if that does end up making sense, its still gonna be a hard team to find a partner with. The stars would have to allgin basically.
A prospect would most likely be the get.
I was already sitting down.
Laying down would have been the only logical course of action from there, then
Better to die on your ass than live on your back.
– Voltaire
Very good point.
The one exception I can think of is if a team wanted to trade for him in a trade-and-extend situation, because they saw him as their primary catcher for the next couple of years.
Perhaps a contending team that had just lost their primary catcher to a serious injury like TJ.
Serious question: Can anybody remind me of a trade-extend deal that’s been done in MLB? I don’t recall one ever happening.
Fegan also has a longer story on McCann going from framing skeptic to framing adherent this off-season and his work with Jerry Narron to shore up his game. https://theathletic.com/1524029/2020/01/10/how-james-mccanns-offseason-work-could-impact-white-soxs-catching-timeshare/
The news that Jerry Narron is working with McCann on pitch framing immediately had me wondering if the Sox might have Narron work with Zack Collins at some point.
Depth – Engel as a late inning defensive specialist who can pinch run and hit OK. Certainly not J.B. Shuck! Leury for the INF once Madrigal plants his flag at 2B. Lots of options to cover 1B if Abreu needs a rest. McCann is a great depth piece should Yaz take a foul tip off his hand! Kopech, Rodon & maybe even Lambert/Dunning. Hopefully our front five can stay healthy and effective for a month or two!
Good solid depth. Not super but major league caliber. We’re getting there. Our front line players still must make up that 120 run differential just to get to even! I’m thrilled with this offseason. Never thought Hahn would do this much!
Yes. Agreed. Exactly
The last minute arbitration avoiders are slowly trickling in.
Rodon and Mazara came in just shy of their projected numbers. Looks like Leury is the only one left.
Leury signed for 3.25M
Yup just saw this one. Looks like they came in a little under projects as a group. I’ve now got the OD payroll at $125 mil and change.
Other Sox organizational news today.
I’m glad Kodi is sticking around. He has swing and miss stuff. Needs more strikes.
That’s exciting for those of us who pay way too much attention to this team, and therefore had opinions on whether or not we wanted to lose Medeiros vs Ruiz vs Fulmer or whatever.
Holding onto both of them (and Burr for that matter) is good for the org.
I love the Colome number. It’s likely literally split right down the middle between what the two sides were presenting.